


Truth Implied

by billspilledquill



Category: Naruto
Genre: Crack, Friendship/Love, Gen, Humor, I apologize for the lack of crack in chapter three, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25478203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/billspilledquill/pseuds/billspilledquill
Summary: Rumors has it that Naruto and Sasuke are dating, as pure and as simple as that. The truth, as it turns out, is rarely pure and never simple.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 33
Kudos: 249





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rahmiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rahmiel/gifts).



> A little token of gratitude! ~~(Somehow I feel like this didn’t match the prompt at all...)~~  
>  (Also: happy birthday Sasuke!)

The news is being hammered.

Konoha is _boring_. The war has ended and peace is negotiated and there is literally no way to sell headlines such as: _Breaking News, The Supermarkets Full at Five in the Morning, The Grandmas Are at It Again_. The news have no choice but to turn against their extremely righteous morals to pursue in the very illegal practice of tabloids gossip. Which, to be fair, is worth it. Even the grandmas were holding today’s issue in hand, their wrinkled mouths gasping in delight at the forbidden knowledge.

Rumors has it that Uzumaki Naruto, the hero of Konohagakure and the Shinobi world (and self-proclaimed number one fan of the Ichiraku) is dating none other than Uchiha Sasuke, the Rogue-Nin who had also saved the world in passing. The reporter who issued the headline isn’t found, nor are Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke willing to give an interview to either confirm or deny the situation.

“Rumors has it I am going to punch you in the face,” was Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto’s best friend’s testimony to the reporter who reportedly got punched in the face for the comment. There has been a helpful raise in her salary for the courage and determination from the reporter’s part for trying.

“I really don’t care,” was Nara Shikamaru’s comment on the matter. Many of Uzumaki Naruto’s former classmates choose to not comment, giving a variant of excuses, most of them resembling the form of “I don’t want to die”, which left the press intrigued and, conversely, boosted a little fear from its employers.

But the money keeps cashing in, and the rumors grow like healthy little vines. About to die or not, people are interested in Uzumaki Naruto, and then that’s what they are going to get.

Which brings to the next headline: _Trauma? Scandal? You Won’t Believe the Hero of the Leaf’s Past?_ Along with the tiny lines beneath: _we are not responsible for any erroneous facts. If you want accuracy, please go read a shuriken textbook._

Right— so redaction. The news are getting hammered by money and fame and whatnot. Uzumaki Naruto, as it turns out, is nowhere to be found.

*

“They wrote that I’m nowhere to be found!” cries Naruto happily. “Did you see that? Let’s keep doing that.”

“What? The hiding?”

“Yeah,” says Naruto. “I think it’s pretty neat.”

Sasuke looks at him. “You want to keep living in a forest because the press can’t stop insinuating that we are dating?”

“They said that my childhood is a—” he squints at the words—“’a hopeless pursuit of his one and only love, Uchiha fucking Sasuke’!”

“I’m sure they didn’t put a swear word as my middle name,” says Sasuke very reasonably before snatching the paper away and verified. “They wrote ‘sweetheart’.”

“Fucking read on.”

Sasuke checks, then stares for a long time into nothingness.

“ _His sexy little tiger_?”

Naruto throws his hands in the air. “Argh! I don’t want to deal with this!”

“If you become Hokage, you’ll need to get used to these sort of things.”

Naruto shuddered with a painful expression on his face. “Really?”

“Really,” said Sasuke, looking at little further down the line, “—buffed little cat.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” comments Naruto, and angry-eats their grilled fish to the sound of crickets at the dawn of the night.

Sasuke huffs. “It doesn’t,” he agrees. “It says here you stargazed and wished for me. As if you have the brain to do it.”

Naruto takes another bite of his fish and stares into its dead eyes, unwilling to move.

“It even claims you dream about me regularly. Preposterous.”

Naruto gobbles the entire fish and chokes.

“ _Uzumaki Naruto considers Uchiha Sasuke to be everything: brother, lover, friend. Our hero has an incest kink?_ ”

So that’s how Uzumaki Naruto, the son of the Fourth Hokage, the Destiny Child, the literal reincarnation of Good, decides to live in the woods with his rumored-boyfriend and certified best-friend…. you better believe it.

*

The news is getting worried.

Haruno Sakura has broken into their firm more than three times today, and the repairs are getting a little too frequent for their liking. Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke are still out of sight. The Hokage, Hatake Kakashi even came to inquire their presence.

Apparently the news have accidentally provoked the hero of the Leaf to desert the village, and right now, they are properly afraid (as shown through Haruno’s fist) of the consequences.

But the money…

Consider this: there is a precipice in front of you, and some people are ready to push you if you move your feet. But you get a mansion worth of money when you do. So?

So you move your feet.

_Report: Uchiha Sasuke’s True Love, Uzumaki Naruto, and How Their Bond Came to Be._

Death has never been so sweet.

*

Sasuke stumps the paper and grinds it with his foot. Naruto is laughing.

“They said—” said Naruto, almost wheezing— “they said—”

“Don’t _repeat_ it.”

“They said I’m your lovey-dovey dobe! The only source of your happiness! The reason why you left the village is because your unrequited love! C’mon, Sasuke. It’s a _little_ funny.”

“No.”

“Don’t brood.”

“I don’t _brood,"_ says Sasuke broodily. 

“ _The only one that the Uchiha is willing to spend the rest of his life with_ ,” recited Naruto. “C’mon, Sasuke. Take a joke properly.”

Sasuke kicks a rock.

“ _It is a secret that Uchiha Sasuke has our hero’s photo inside his cloak_.”

Sasuke picks up the rock.

“ _The Uchiha’s only weakness is_ —”

Sasuke crushes the rock. Naruto laughs harder.

So that’s how Uchiha Sasuke, the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan, the Avenger, the literal reincarnation of Evil (some restrictions apply), decides to live in the woods with his rumored-boyfriend and certified best-friend (some ramifications apply).

“We have something to start the fire with,” says Sasuke, and Katon’ed the paper into ashes.

*

The news is in big trouble.

Haruno Sakura, needless to say, has went absolutely berserk. The good news is they have expected it. The bad news is that no one else is on their side, and the Hokage is going absolutely berserk, too.

It’s important to repeat the accomplishments that Konoha news has given to its population so far: the Gossip (worth the capitalization), and legitimate news about supermarket grandmas.

So, redaction. The news is in big, big, _big_ trouble (also worth the italic).

They get disbanded by the order of the Hokage (ouch), and Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke returned to the village when the fact reached their ears. It is all pretty peaceful until Uchiha Sasuke struck a Chidori in the air and threatens them death if he ever sees them again.

Ouch. 

Konoha, due to forceful allegations and death threats, returns to its boring state. So, no tabloids and no grandmas. But, hey, they have a lot of money. And some questions need to be answered.

“No, they’re not dating,” is the answer given by Orochimaru, Konoha’s redeemed scientist and snake enthusiast, “but they might as well be married.”

It is with enthousiasm and Will of Fire that the news celebrated. _So they are married!_

“No,” is Orochimaru’s reply in exchange of a fortune, “but they might as well be dating.”

It is only after Orochimaru’s ominous laughter that the news realised that they have been hammered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short sequel.

  
Sakura did not save the world for this— well, did not become one-third of the rescue team for. The other two-thirds is _exactly_ why she shouldn’t have helped save the world (and witness Naruto’s reverse harem along the eye-bloody-nose-bloodier way).

Fuck team-building; she once punched Sai when he needed a lesson. At least _she_ wasn’t an absolute mess at being a human being.

Since Naruto and Sasuke came back, Sakura has been making a list of interdictions for them, which goes a little like this:

  1. No murder-talk, Sasuke-kun.
  2. No ramen-talk.
  3. No are-we-actually-dating-no-we-are-not-wait-are-we talk.
  4. No (smudged)
  5. I THINK YOUR FACE IS VERY HANDSOME BUT I _SHOULD_ AND _WILL_ PUNCH IT IF THERE IS MURDER-SMALL TALK AGAIN, SASUKE-KUN.
  6. _SASUKE-KUN, PLEASE._
  7. _SASU_ (smudged)



The rest of the list is just scribbling of Sasuke’s name with a variation of curses. Fuck it, she did not save the world for this.

“Wait,” says Naruto, holding up a hand. “I don’t understand number three.”

“Just,” says Sakura, “don’t rub it on my face.”

“What?”

“Stop what-ing me.”

“What’s that?”

Sakura has her fist close to Naruto’s face, waiting.

“Wait, wait wait,” Naruto covers his face, then peeks at her; an image of innocence. “I don’t understand? What about dating?”

Sakura lowers her fist, but only just. “I thought you were dating Sasuke,” says Sakura.

Sasuke, who is minding his own business so far, turns to them and frowns. “You aren’t dating Naruto?”

“Wait, who am I dating?”

Maybe the murder-talk is reasonable, after all.

“You aren’t in love with Sasuke?” asks Naruto.

“You aren’t in love with Sasuke?” asks Sakura.

“Both of you have some odd obsessive feelings against my person,” says Sasuke calmly.

Sakura flips a table and calls it a day.

*

Sasuke keeps terrifying the sane portion of the news media.

“I still think murder is a viable option,” says Sasuke.

“For the first time I think Sasuke is making some sense,” says Naruto irresponsibly.

“Hardly the first time, idiot.”

“Asshole.”

“Dead-last.”

Sakura laughs and slams her fist to the wall.

“If you two don’t stop _now_ ,” she says sweetly, her teeth all out, “there will be consequences worse than death. Is it understood?”

“Sakura-chan is scarier than before,” mutters Naruto.

“She can hear you, idiot.”

Naruto gasps. “Who are you calling idiot again? You—”

Sakura flips a table, breaks a wall, and calls it a day.

*

And then, one day, the unthinkable comes: Uzumaki Naruto gets a clue.

“Wait,” says Naruto, stopping them in their track. Wearing about the same expression he had when they discussed plans to defeat a literal goddess, he asks, “am I dating Sasuke?”

“Yes,” says Sakura.

“No,” says Sasuke.

Naruto has the dreamiest look on his face.

“Does that mean I can have those couple combos at Ichiraku?”

“No,” says Sasuke, “that’s stupid.”

“Yes,” says Sakura, “but that’s stupid.”

“Are you two just trying to say that I am stupid?”

Sasuke shurgs. Sakura nods. _Pretty much yeah_.

Naruto fumed. “Argh, I can’t deal with you two!”

Sakura watches Naruto storms away blankly and chuckles.

“Are you guys actually dating, though?”

Sasuke’s face hasn’t changed much from the years. His voice is as emotionless as she remembers when he discusses anything that involved subject of this nature.

“I don’t date,” he says. “I don’t care for marriage. I don’t want bonds of that kind.”

“Romance?”

“Redundancy,” corrects Sasuke. “Superfluous attachment; decorations. If Naruto gives, he has to give everything. Romance cannot begin to equal it.”

Sakura laughs. “I’m just glad that the murder-talk subsided.”

Sasuke huffs; they call it a day.

*

It’s been ten years since Sasuke said that and it’s been ten years since the rumors started. It’s been nine years since they lived together and it’s been forever since they haven’t dated.

“I don’t think we are dating,” concludes Naruto.

Sasuke sips his tea and offers Sakura some.

“Yeah,” says Sakura. “I don’t think so.”

“You have foam on your face, Naruto,” Sasuke points out idlily, a book on his lap.

“Oh, really?” and Naruto smudges his hand on his face bashfully. He grins. “Now it’s all gone!”

“All gone,” repeats Sasuke softly, his face still inclined to his book. There is a smile there that Sakura sees often nowadays. It reminds Sakura of old things, and sometimes it hurts to look at them. Sometimes it is so tender that it hurts. 

“All gone,” says Sakura, and Sasuke’s eyes flicker towards her. Sakura returns the smile.

“You’re welcome anytime, Sakura,” Sasuke says. Naruto agrees happily before they fall back to a series of meaningless bickering. 

Fuck it, she saved the world exactly for this; whatever this is.

Sakura calls it a day and goes home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sequel of a sequel. I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST.

If Naruto doesn’t understand, Sasuke thinks, then he is going to spell it out to him.

“Hey, c’mon!”

Sasuke looks at Naruto pour a ridiculous amount of shampoo in his hands, and doesn’t, alas, spell it out to him.

“Ne, it’s a great service I’m giving you right here! Look a bit more grateful!”

Sasuke _should_ spell it out to him. He is feeling nice enough to do it. “Naruto,” he begins.

Naruto hums. His hands come to rest on his hair. “What?”

“Are you _really_ ,” he says, “going to wash my hair?”

“Hm? Yeah. Don’t be a neat-freak.”

If Naruto doesn’t want to understand, he thinks, then he isn’t going to tell him.

“I’m not,” Sasuke says. He tilts his head backwards to meet Naruto’s face mid-way. “You will just mess it up.”

Naruto grins. Water falls all over Naruto’s hair, splattering his face. “You’re on,” he says.

*

Naruto messes with his hair. Much to his disappointment, Naruto also messes it up _good_.

Naruto snickers. “I knew you would like it!”

“I don’t like it,” Sasuke says. “I’m indulging you.”

“Well,” Naruto says, his fingers working circles on his scalp. The motion softens. “I can stop if you don’t want to.”

Sasuke closes his eyes. The lotion is going into his eyes. It stings. “I’m indulging you,” Sasuke says.

The bathroom feels too small for two grown men. This house is supposed to be for one person only. Naruto has (“very graciously,” Naruto had said) let him live here for ten years and then some. Sasuke has failed to count. He wonders if the number would mean anything if he knows for exactly how long he has been staying in his friend’s house rent-free, so he doesn’t try to.

“Mother used to wash my hair,” Sasuke says, listening to the sound of water against skin. Pieces of himself. That is the rent Naruto wanted, he had stated. Stories.

“My mom would never wash my hair,” Naruto says, “she didn’t look like the type to.”

Sasuke blinks his eyes open. Naruto has poured water over his hair. “You have met her,” he says.

“Yeah,” Naruto answers lightly. “I did.”

Sasuke runs a hand over his hair, and pushes it up. “Switch,” Sasuke orders.

“What? Why?”

“Sit here,” Sasuke says, already standing up. The bathroom was really too small, they should expand it someday. “You suck at this,” Sasuke comments.

Naruto splutters. “You liked it! Besides, you would suck more than me!”

Sasuke grabs the bottle of shampoo. “You’re on,” he says.

*

Sasuke works his hand into what was essentially a blond nest.

“Ow! That hurt!”

“Your head is a wasteland,” Sasuke deadpans.

Naruto protests, then remained oddly quiet. Why did he do this again?

“Did you fall asleep on me, Naruto?”

The bathroom is too small. Sasuke was going to change the bathroom as soon as tomorrow morning. It captures sounds that shouldn’t be captured. Yes, that could be used as an asset.

Sasuke keeps moving his hand. At this point, it is moving on its own. Sasuke resists a sigh, and turns Naruto around.

“You’re too predicable when you are quiet,” Sasuke says, looking at the disaster that was his hair, but mostly at his face. “I will know why immediately.”

Naruto hiccups. “You don’t count.”

He is right. Sasuke has seen Naruto cry too many times. He reaches for the bucket of water, and pours it all over Naruto’s head.

Naruto yelps. “What are you doing, bastard? What the hell—”

“I will do this every day,” states Sasuke, “until you get used to it.”

Naruto wipes his face and snorts. Some drops hit Sasuke’s cheek; he makes a face. “I don’t know what the fuck are you talking about. I will never get used to it.”

*

Naruto gets used to it.

“I didn’t think you would do it,” Naruto explains later, when his hair isn’t much of a disaster anymore. When his face tilts next to Sasuke’s and smiles. “I like when people do that to me, y’know.”

Sasuke knows. He isn’t surprised that he knows, either. His hand keeps moving.

“It feels good,” Naruto says, “when you do it, too.”

Sasuke has the distinct image of a child that he glanced at ever so often in the Academy. The image morphs into Naruto. This Naruto. It is only when they have finished washing up, when Naruto chants a good night with a glass of milk and heads to his room that Sasuke realizes that he is trying to pinpoint when exactly he has loved him.

Maybe they should get married, Sasuke thinks, or date. Maybe they should hold hands to sleep. This is easy to understand, easy to pinpoint. It is easy to say, _I fell in love._ To say, _marry me._ To say, _I love the color of your eyes, the way you didn’t give up on me._ It is harder to say anything else. To say, _you have a strength that I don’t have_. _I have always wanted to be you_. To be him. To love him. To pluck the part of him where he does and knowing that it was the worthiest part. To pluck the heart out and set for nothing in between. Flesh and bone.

But they have exhausted all words to each other when they were young. They have said all that there was to say in the battlefield. There was nothing left to say but _yes, I will see you in the morning. We will meet again in the night, and I will wash your hair. Good night. Yes, I will see you. I will._

And he would look radiant, Sasuke knows, as bright as any light. 

*

It was then: the child lets his legs sway by the movement of the swing. When Sasuke has glanced at death every night in his bed, there was a child swaying by the wind, defying it. I will see him in the morning. I will live. Radiant. Startling. Sasuke has, probably, always knew.


End file.
